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National Lottery Bill

moved Amendment No. 8:"Page 7, leave out lines 4 and 5." The noble Lord said: My Lords, in Committee, we had a fair degree of debate about the provisions of Clause 11, which has various purposes, but is essentially designed to ensure that the National Lottery distributors take a greater part in publicising aspects of the National Lottery. When the Minister described this in Committee, he said:"““We have made it clear many times that distributors will not be in the business of promoting the National Lottery games””." He continued:"““Clause 11 will ensure that all lottery distributors can take part fully in the activities of the National Lottery Promotions Unit, which seeks to raise positive awareness of, and support for, the benefits of National Lottery good cause funding across the country””.—[Official Report, 13/3/06; col. 1043.]" I do not think that anybody would disagree with that. It is only when you turn to the provisions of the Bill that any doubt arises. Clause 11(c) mentions,"““encouraging participation in activities relating to the National Lottery in general””." That is when doubts begin to creep in. Those words are very broad. It does not say ““encouraging participation in projects funded by the National Lottery in general”” or something more specific. It really does not reflect the Minister’s assurance. Clause 11(c) makes it looks as though the National Lottery distributors could encourage participation in the National Lottery itself. That is what voluntary organisations are concerned about. They do not believe that this wording is sufficiently concise or precise to set out what the Government’s real intentions are. This amendment clearly is a blunt amendment. It would be very helpful if the Minister could indicate whether, as the Bill proceeds to Third Reading, the Government will come back with a more concise amendment to that particular paragraph. There really is a great deal of ambiguity about the provision and it does not reflect the assurances that the Minister gave in Committee. I beg to move.